Posted April 10, 2023 by hurcheon
It's a horrible wasteland now, but for a long time Twitter led to communities forming, people had conversations and got to know one of other, it had drawbacks, but it wasn't all bad. One of those was the Table-top Role-Playing Community, particularly the older UK based gamers who got into the hobby in the late 1970s and 80s.
One of those conversations, actually a few of them were, but this one in particular was about the 80s fantasy film "The Sword and the Sorceror". Not high art, in retrospect somewhat iffy in places, but fun.
In this particular conversation, the notion of action role-playing in that sort of setting came up, as it sometimes did, only this time I put together a quick RPG that weekend, which I called "Tales from an Ancient Empire".. A fast, deadly RPG for cinematic action, all flashing swords, flashing sorcery and non-name spear carriers willing to be bowled over by a dashing protagonist.
I liked what I did, and I thought it could be used for more, so I expanded it for spy and space opera type science fiction action, and in such a way that the genres could be combined, if that is the way the games went.
Times change, this is not then, sensibilities were evolving then and and they have evolved since. Characters can be who the players want, no differentiation for gender or sexuality, because characters are exceptional, people are exceptional, every day they seek to be who they are, and fight those that seek to quash that. In a previous game I had backgrounds reflect the society of the time, the 19th Century, and people pointed out how unfunny that was for some characters. I listened, I hope I learned, and I opened it up for the second version, because it was the right way to go.
Despite the exploitative and sometimes flawed source material, I wanted this to reflect a better way to approach games and life. Being decent to people, to not restrict people or characters based on stereotypes of origin or circumstances seems a better way to life live.
I was also determined that this should be free. It is something I created out of joy, love of genre, nostalgia and community, and friendship. I put this out there hoping others get some joy out of it. Whether it is reading it, playing it or even saying "I can do better!" and then making your own fun game for others to enjoy.